Reading any issue of the internationally respected Avicultural Magazine prepared under his Editorship and admiring his artistic achievements in bird books confirms that Malcolm Ellis consistently exceeded all that is understood by and contained within a phrase frequently used here in Cornwall, where he lived, namely, “a proper job”. Personally, I rate his biographical articles very highly. They are clearly widely researched and to emphasise or clarify a point often include related factual material drawn from Malcolm’s own extensive experiences with birds and animals in captivity and the wild.